Ong Bak 2 (องค์บาก 2) is a 2008Thaimartial arts
film co-directed by and starring Tony Jaa. It is a follow-up to Jaa's 2003
breakout film Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior. Initially
claimed to be a sequel to
Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior, Ong Bak 2 was then
announced to be a prequel to
its predecessor. Unlike its predecessor however, which had a
contemporary and realistic setting, Ong Bak 2 is actually
set in ancient Thailand
and as such, could be described as a historical epic with elements of fantasy combined, and
has nothing to do with Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior. Ong
Bak 2 also has nothing to do with Jaa's 2005 film Tom-Yum-Goong,
which was sometimes incorrectly labelled Ong Bak 2 in the
West, as well as The Protector and The Warrior
King. Tom-Yum-Goong had a contemporary setting
similar to Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior, although it too had
different characters and plot. Jaa's films have yet to tie into
each other, although Jaa has claimed they will do so with the
release of Ong Bak
3 in 2010. As well as the different historical setting to
Jaa's previous films, Ong Bak 2 has taken a notably
grittier and bloodier direction.

The plot of Ong Bak 2 revolves around Tien (Jaa), the
son of Lord Sihadecho, a murdered nobleman in ancient Thailand. As
a spirited and unyielding youth, Tien resists savage slave traders
and, moments from death, is rescued by a man known as Cher Nung.
Cher Nung is a renowned warrior and leader of the Pha Beek Krut, a
group of pirates/guerilla fighters,
and Cher Nung realizes unsurpassed physical potential in the young
Tien and takes Tien under his wing. The Pha Beek Krut are a group
of expert martial artists of various styles from all
over Asia, and Tien is trained to
unify these different styles of martial arts, and grows into the
most dangerous man alive. As Tien becomes a young man he goes on a
lone mission of vengeance against the vicious slave traders who
enslaved him as a youth, and also the treacherous warlord who
murdered his father, Lord Rajasena, who has an entire army
protecting him.

Contents

Plot

The film begins in the year 1974 of the Buddhist
calendar (which corresponds to 1421 in the Gregorian calendar), in feudalThailand. It is a time of
political upheaval, treachery and danger. The opening scene
explains how during the reign of Boromarajatiraj II of the Ayutthaya
Kingdom, the Ayuthaya royal court became more powerful than the
Sukhothai kingdom and expanded to the east.
The Ayuthaya army sieged the Kingdom of Gods for several months. The king
sent his son, Prince Indraracha to rule the kingdom. At the new
kingdom, Lord Sihadecho is a provincial ruler, and a gallant and
noble warrior of a formally great dynasty. His son, Tien, a spirited and
unyielding youth, aspires to be just like his father, but is forced
to undergo dance lessons instead much to his disdain. Meanwhile,
the treacherous and power-craving Lord Rajasena, a former city
administrator of the capital city, plots to seize total control of
all Asia and has amassed the greatest army in Asia. Rajasena sends
out vicious assassins to murder Lord Sihadecho's family and his
loyal soldiers. The only survivor from this massacre is Tien, who
manages to escape with deep vengeance in his heart, and becomes a
wild and feral child.

Tien is captured by a group of savage slave traders, who throw
him into a pit with a giant crocodile when he proves
uncontrollable. Tien is saved by Cher Nung (Sorapong
Chatree), leader of the renowned “Pha Beek Krut” guerilla
group, who attack the slave traders. Cher Nung throws a knife to
Tien, proclaiming "your life depends on you, young boy", with which
Tien kills the crocodile. Intrigued by his physical prowess and
attitude, Cher Nung takes Tien to a soothsayer, who says the boy has a great
destiny, that "spirits will fear him" and that he will become the
greatest warrior who will ever live, and as such Cher Nung takes in
Tien as his adoptive son and raises him like himself as a guerilla
and a bandit. Tien gets his wish to train as a warrior and more
besides, growing up to excel in all kinds of martial arts and war
strategies including man-to-man fighting, boxing, incantation,Ninjutsu(subterfuge
explosives stealth and speed). Tien utilizes a variety of
traditional martial arts styles, including Thai Muay Boran, JapaneseKenjutsu, Indonesian Harimau Silat, ChineseZuiquan,
Wing Chun and Hung Ga kung fu styles, as well
as Chinese swordplay. His weapons include a Ninjatō, katana, jian,
dao (sword), kilij, talwar, nunchaku, rope dart, and three-section staff.[2]

Now a young man and with all these forms of martial arts heavily
instilled, becoming the greatest warrior to ever live, Tien (Tony Jaa) is eager to quench
the vengeance in his heart by killing the slave traders, which he
does. He then goes on to kill Lord Rajasena by posing as a dancer
during a celebration. Returning to the Pha Beek Krut, Tien is
mystified to find their village deserted. Suddenly, he finds
himself confronted by wave after wave of masked assassins(ninjas), the same ones hired by
Lord Rajasena to destroy his original home. As the fight progresses
Tien is too enraged to notice that the masked villains(Ninjas) are
none other than his Pha Beek Krut comrades though their individual
combat styles are glaringly recognizable. At last confronting their
leader, Tien finds they have been surrounded by Rajasena's army,
which is led by the tyrant, himself. Lord Rajasena reveals he had
survived thanks to an armored tunic concealed beneath his state
robes. Cher Nung unmasks and admits to his part in killing Lord
Sihadecho's, as he was in league with Rajasena. Cher Nung explains
that he must carry out Rajasena's orders, or his family will be
killed. As Tien defeats Cher Nung, Cher Nung once again calls Tien
his son and asks to him to avenge his father's death by finishing
him off, which in anguish Tien does.

The film ends on a cliffhanger with Tien, after defeating
hundreds of Rajasena's warriors, being finally overwhelmed by
hundreds more. Rajasena orders Tien to be taken away to be slowly
tortured to death. It is unclear whether Tien survives, and if he
does, how it is so. An extremely ambiguous and vague voice-over
explains that Tien "may find a way to cheat death again", and Tien
is shown with a fully-grown beard (which he doesn't have in the
film) standing in front of a scarred golden Buddha statue, perhaps
indicating reincarnation,some say Tien is Ong Bak
himself or some other mystical solution. Nevertheless, the story is
set to be resolved and continued in the sequel Ong Bak 3.

Cast

Production

Shooting of the film began in October 2006. It was released in
Thailand on December 5, 2008.[3]
In July 2008, rumor surfaced that Tony Jaa has disappeared from the
production set. Prachya Pinkaew commented to the press
that Tony Jaa had disappeared from the set for almost two months,
leaving the film unfinished, and that the delay has caused more
than 250 million baht damage due to the breach of contract with the
Weinstein Company who also has canceled the
contract. Later in an interview with the press, Tony Jaa stated
that the production was on hiatus because Sahamongkol Film could not release the
obligated funding for the film. Source within Ayara Film, the
subsidiary of Sahamongkol Film that handles Ong Bak 2 production
stated that no more funding came from Sahamongkol after it took
over budget and management role from Tony Jaa since May 2008 to
July 2008.[4]

Tony Jaa and the owner of Sahamongkol Film had later made a
joint press conference stating that the production and funding
would continue after several concessions have been agreed upon
between Tony Jaa and Sahamongkol. Famed Thai action choreographer
and Jaa's mentor Panna Rittikrai was brought onto the
project in the capacity of director to help complete the film.[5]
In addition, Rittikrai added martial artist Dan Chupong to the cast.[5]

An international trailer for the movie was released during
filming, showing the fictional fantasy setting and in which Tony
Jaa's character is shown being rescued in the jungle by a group of
martial artists of various styles, and trained to unify these
different styles of martial arts. However, production still
encountered financial problems as it came to a close. In order to
complete the production on time, the filmmakers decided to end
Ong Bak 2 with a cliffhanger ending, and then continue the
story in a sequel, Ong
Bak 3, which has been announced to begin production
shortly for a 2009 release.[6]

On 10 February 2009, it was announced that the Wagner/Cuban
Companies’ Magnolia Pictures acquired the U.S.
distribution rights for Ong-Bak 2 under their Magnet label. The
deal was negotiated by Tom Quinn, Senior Vice President of
Magnolia, with Gilbert Lim of Sahamongkol Film International.[9]

Critical
reception

The film currently holds a 48% 'Rotten' rating on Rotten
Tomatoes based on 52 reviews.[10]

Thailand
reception

Despite political turmoil in the film's native Thailand, in its
opening weekend (8 December 2008) Ong Bak 2 has grossed
about 28 million baht ($2.06 million), according to Variety
Asia Online, and was number one at the Thai box office.[11]Ong Bak 2 did better at the Thai box office than Tony Jaa's previous film,
Tom-Yum-Goong.[12]

Home
video

There have been numerous DVD
releases of Ong Bak 2. Various versions with regional subtitles and dubbings were released throughout
Asia, South America, Australia and New Zealand in the months
shortly after the film's premiere in its native Thailand. The film
was released for the European Film Market on 6 February 2009.[13] The
official release date of the DVD in the United States has been set
at February 2, 2010 [14],
although it is already available in English language version. A bootleg
all-region-compatible version with English subtitles of Ong-Bak
2 was internationally released April 2, 2009 on DVD, although
this version is as yet widely unavailable. There are no significant
reviews, such as on Rotten Tomatoes, as of yet.

Sequel

With the box office success of Ong Bak 2, Sahamongkol Film
International was quick to announce their intention to film its
sequel. Filming of new footage for the follow-up will begin before
the end of the year and will also incorporate unused footage from
Ong Bak 2.[6]Kongdej Jaturanrasamee,
screenwriter of the Thai fantasy film Queens of
Langkasuka, has been signed to write the script. In
addition, the expensive set for the Khmer Palace has already been completed and
seen by the press.[15] The
studio hopes to have the film in theaters in late 2009.

Sia Jieang, an Executive of Sahamongkol, stated the film will
feature more fights between Tony Jaa and Dan Chupong (the uncredited actor behind
the mysterious, enigmatic and deadly "crow ghost" in Ong Bak
2, the only enemy who really gets the drop on Tien in the
film).[16]

Moreover, in Ong Bak 3 Tien's legs and arms will be
damaged by torture and require Jaa's character to "fight with some
sort of boneless action. This is homework for Panna Rittikrai
and Tony Jaa to create the action for us to see what it will look
like to fight in the state of boneless condition."